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1. Letterboxing is an outdoor hobby which began on the moors of Dartmoor, England in 1854. Letterboxers hide a small weatherproof box in publicly accessible places and post clues to its location. Letterboxes usually contain a visitors book, ink stamp and ink pad. The design of the stamp generally has some connection to the local area or subject of the letterbox and is used by the visitor as proof of having found it.
The letterboxes were so named because the original intention was for walkers to leave a letter or postcard inside the box (sometimes addressed to themselves, sometimes a friend of relative). The next person to discover the site would collect it, and post it at the next opportunity. The first Dartmoor letterboxes were in such remote and well hidden locations that only the most determined walkers could find them, so weeks could pass before the letter made its way home. Increasingly, however, they have been located in relatively accessible sites. As a result, the tradition of leaving a letter or postcard in the box has been forgotten.
Clues to their locations on Dartmoor are traditionally distributed in print format in the Dartmoor 100 Club (http://www.walk.to/letterboxing)'s regularly-updated catalogue; in the U.S., clues are published on the Letterboxing North America (http://www.letterboxing.org) and other web sites. Letterboxes are sited in other locations in England, the main areas being The New Forest, Hampshire and The North York Moors, Yorkshire. Interest in letterboxing in the United States is generally considered to have started with a feature article in the April 1998 Smithsonian Magazine (http://www.smithsonianmag.si.edu/smithsonian/issues98/apr98/letterboxing.html).
Further information:
See also: Geocaching, Orienteering
2. "Letterboxing" is also a term used to describe the process of transferring a widescreen image to video in a widescreen ratio. See letterbox.
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